Years ago as I was praying I heard the statement, “Sit down and shut up” so loudly that I almost thought it was an audible voice. It was frightening and intimidating, but instantly I knew if the enemy had exposed his hand so flamboyantly he was threatened.
Jesus doesn’t say, “Sit down and shut up.” He doesn’t drive His sheep, He leads us. Jesus cares for nothing more than that you and I might know life fully. He came for the lost, to show us the road to eternal life and everything He did and does do is to that end. It’s important to learn to recognize and distinguish the source of the information we take in.
Who do you think is whispering in our ears telling us to “Sit down and shut up?” “Who do you think brow beats and drives the sheep?
Jesus said, “If you love Me tend my sheep.” The word tend means to feed, furnish pasture for food, nourish serve the body and supply the essentials for the soul. It means to watch for the enemies trying to attack the sheep and heal the wounded, sick and defenseless sheep, find the lost or trapped and love them by sharing your lives with them so you can earn their trust.
This word in the Greek also speaks of a bulwark, or breakwater, such as a solid wall to create a perimeter of fortification around the sheep to protect them from external dangers and annoyances.
In Isaiah 58 we are exhorted to pour out that which sustains our life for the hungry and satisfy the needs (be a well) of the afflicted. The word afflicted here means: brow beaten, depressed, self-abase, self afflicted, defiled, hurt, ravished, weak and dealt with harshly.
When the Samaritan woman drawing water from a well encountered Jesus, Her encounter was so life altering, she told the whole city about Jesus and they too were awakened. When Jesus came upon her at the well He knew she was afflicted from her life of sin and shame. Although she drew water for Him, He supplied the essential nourishment for her battered soul. He showed her for the first time the Living Water that would sustain her thirsty soul and free her from her affliction. She began to nurture herself by the Living Water.
When Jesus came to me drawing water from the wells I had been drinking from, He enabled me to see a clearer reflection than I had ever seen before. I encountered a revelation of who I am in Christ that caused me to rise up too.
When we truly encounter Jesus He has the tremendous ability to make us see ourselves in a new light. Are you putting yourself in an environment where you can receive nourishment and the essentials for the soul? If your soul is thirsting, come to the Living Water and drink.
